Contents

History

Apart from the Flamels, famous ex-students of Beauxbatons include Vincent Duc de Trefle-Picques, who escaped the Terror by casting a concealment charm on his neck and pretending that his head had already been cut off; Luc Millefeuille, the infamous pastry-maker and Muggle-poisoner, and Fleur Delacour, who fought in the world-famous Battle of Hogwarts and was awarded medals of bravery from both the French and British Ministries of Magic.[1] Headmistress Olympe Maxime is (in spite of her protestations to the contrary) half-giantess; clever, elegant, and undeniably awe-inspiring.[1]

Beauxbatons participated in the Triwizard Tournament that was held in 1792 and the tournament that was held in 1994. During the 1792 tournament one of the tasks involved catching a cockatrice. However, the beast went on a rampage and injured three of the judges, one of the injured was at the time the head of Beauxbatons. In the 1994 tournament Fleur Delacour was selected school champion and finished in fourth place behind the other three contestants. During the 1994 tournament Olympe Maxime served as head of the academy.

Castle and grounds

The Palace of Beauxbatons is a beautiful chateau surrounded by majestic gardens and fountains magically created out of the surrounding mountains, and has stood for over seven hundred years[1]. In the Dining Hall, wood nymphs serenade the students while they eat, and at Christmas, the hall is adorned with great, glittering, non-melting ice sculptures.

It is said that the stunning castle and grounds of this prestigious school were part-funded by alchemist gold, for Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel met at Beauxbatons in their youth, and a magnificent fountain in the middle of the school’s park, believed to have healing and beautifying properties, is named for them.[1]

Traditions

The students at Beauxbatons Academy have been taught to stand at attention from when their Headmistress enters the room until she seats herself, showing great respect for her. Students take their Ordinary Wizarding Levels in their sixth year.

Beauxbaton's carriage

Students and staff are transported by use of the Beauxbatons carriages[2] (French: Le carrosse de Beauxbâtons).[3] The carragies were a light-blue, pulled by a dozen winged horses. Despite being used as transportation by Beauxbatons, travelling in an Abraxan horse-drawn giant carriage is a breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.[4] The Abraxan horses are only fed single-malt whisky.

Etymology

Beauxbatons was likely devised from the French "beaux bâtons," literally translated as "beautiful sticks". In French, "baguette" is the word used for "wand" but "bâton" might be a reference to it, although it would be more likely translated as "staff" (e.g. Alastor Moody's staff).

Behind the scenes

Beauxbatons uniform as shown on Pottermore

Beauxbatons Coat of Arms

The school coat of arms is two golden wands crossed over one another, each shooting three stars.

In the movie, the Beauxbatons Coat of Arms is a shield surrounded by golden lines with two gold wands on the top; in the book it is two crossed wands emitting three stars each in the middle.

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Beauxbatons is pronounced wrong. Dumbledore says boh-BAT-tons. This appears to be an error of pronunciation on Dumbledore's behalf, seeing as the French students pronounce it correctly. In the UK audiobook edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the pronunciation sounds even more French, as Stephen Fry does not pronounce the S at the end of the word. Pottermore confirms Fry's pronouncation, styling it as Bo - batton.

In the film of Goblet of Fire all the students from Beauxbatons are female, however, the book makes no such mention of this. Indeed, at least four boys are in attendance in the book, showing it is not a girls-only school. In the film this was probably done to make the all-girls student body appear glamorous and attractive to the male students of Hogwarts, given Ron's reaction to seeing them, however, in the book, it's suggested both the male and female students of the school are good-looking.